When does liberation become occupation?

When does a war of liberation become a war of occupation and oppression and destruction?

When the liberators begin to kill the people they are supposed to be liberating. When the liberators are told to leave the country they occupy.

This happened to the Americans in Iraq. It would have happened in Afghanistan, except for the greed and corruption of the leadership of that country.

Many billions of dollars leave Afghanistan in suitcases filled with cash each year – no questions asked. We are now restricted to rules of engagement in Afghanistan that will guarantee more needless American deaths and injuries, without the remotest possibility of a “victory.”

From my days working for a defense contractor on Vietnam War contracts, I know that these endless wars are promoted by the military-industrial-congressional complex.

There is no Eisenhower here, who ran on a platform to end the war in Korea and accomplished it within seven months after taking office. The same Eisenhower who warned against the excessive influence of the military-industrial complex.

In the end, like Vietnam, we’ll get thrown out. Who can forget the chaos on the roof of the embassy building in Saigon, or the helicopters thrown overboard a carrier deck to make room for the next.

After sacrificing the lives of thousands of our brave soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, after the injuries of tens of thousands more, after spending more than a trillion dollars, we’ll get thrown out, not as liberators, but as detested invaders and oppressors and destroyers.